The National Association for Court Management (NACM) [1] is a non-profit organization in the United States that promotes professional management education for court administrators and judges.
In the United States and most other countries in the common law tradition, supervising judges continue their traditional role as the presiding authorities in the bureaucracy of court systems. However, the latter half of the twentieth century saw the increasing professionalization of non-judicial court administrators and staff. In many court systems today, responsibility for court operations is delegated almost entirely to professional court managers, freeing judges and their legal clerks to devote their time to the work of interpreting and applying the law.
The mission of NACM is to provide a national forum for court professionals and, more importantly, to promote the fair and impartial administration of justice. Through NACM, court administrators increase the publics’ understanding of the judicial system and provide for equal access to justice for all. The association offers court management an ethical code of conduct to promote professionalism and competence throughout the system. The association improves the profession through education, the exchange of information and ideas, and the application of best practices in management. NACM supports research to shape and develop the court management field. Court administrators are guardians of the independence of the judiciary as the 3rd and independent branch of government and they safeguard the impartiality of administration of the courts.
NACM collaborates in training programs with the National Center for State Courts, [2] and the Institute for Court Management. [3] NACM is well known for its creation of the Core Competencies in the late 1990s, which were revised as the Core®, [4] in 2014. NACM has also drafted a Model Code of Conduct for Court Professionals. [5]
NACM was founded in 1985 through the combination of two pre-existing associations: the National Association of Trial Court Administrators (founded in 1965) and the National Association for Court Administration (founded in 1968). It claims to be the largest organization of court management professionals in the world, with more than 1,800 members from the United States, Canada, Australia, and other countries.
The current president of NACM is Kathy Griffin, currently working as a Court Administrator in St. Joseph County in Michigan. NACM is headquartered in Williamsburg, Virginia.
Judicial independence is the concept that the judiciary should be independent from the other branches of government. That is, courts should not be subject to improper influence from the other branches of government or from private or partisan interests. Judicial independence is important for the idea of separation of powers.
A paralegal, also known as a legal assistant, or paralegal specialist is a professional who performs tasks that require knowledge of legal concepts but not the full expertise of a lawyer with a license to practice law. The market for paralegals is broad, including consultancies, companies that have legal departments or that perform legislative and regulatory compliance activities in areas such as environment, labor, intellectual property, zoning, and tax. Legal offices and public bodies also have many paralegals in support activities using other titles outside of the standard titles used in the profession. There is a diverse array of work experiences attainable within the paralegal field, ranging between internship, entry-level, associate, junior, mid-senior, and senior level positions.
The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students; it is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's stated activities are the setting of academic standards for law schools, and the formulation of model ethical codes related to the legal profession. As of fiscal year 2017, the ABA had 194,000 dues-paying members, constituting approximately 14.4% of American attorneys. In 1979, half of all lawyers in the U.S. were members of the ABA. The organization's national headquarters are in Chicago, Illinois, and it also maintains a significant branch office in Washington, D.C.
Republican Party of Minnesota v. White, 536 U.S. 765 (2002), was a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States regarding the First Amendment rights of candidates for judicial office. In a 5–4 decision, the court ruled that Minnesota's announce clause, which forbade candidates for judicial office from announcing their views on disputed legal and political issues, was unconstitutional.
The American Judicature Society (AJS) is an independent, non-partisan membership organization working nationally to protect the integrity of the American justice system. AJS's membership — including judges, lawyers, and members of the public — promotes fair and impartial courts through research, publications, education, and advocacy for judicial reform. The work of AJS focuses primarily on judicial diversity, judicial ethics, judicial selection, access to justice, criminal justice reform, and the jury system.
The Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AO) or the Administrative Office (AO) for short, is the administrative agency of the United States federal court system, established in 1939. The central support entity for the federal judicial branch, the AO provides a wide range of legislative, administrative, legal, financial, management, program, and information technology support services to the federal courts.
The Federal Bar Association (FBA) is the primary voluntary professional organization for private and government lawyers and judges practicing and sitting in federal courts in the United States. Six times a year, The Association prints The Federal Lawyer, which includes the latest news of interest to the federal legal community. The magazine features articles by attorneys and judges, book reviews, the latest Supreme Court rulings, judicial profiles, and thorough coverage of FBA activities.
The Federal Judicial Center is the education and research agency of the United States federal courts. It was established by Pub. L. 90–219 in 1967, at the recommendation of the Judicial Conference of the United States.
These organizations for higher education have a common purpose and mission for advocacy in numerous areas of both institutional management and the general public interest. The organizations have specific purpose for issues from faculty unionization to public policy research and service to institutions. Most are focused on the organization and governance of higher and tertiary education, but some are involved in service and research at all levels of education.
Recent decades have seen a surge in the birth of "supraterritorial institutions and associations", that have been gathered by their enactment of common law and practices. European Union's regional expansion into Southeastern Europe to include Romania is one such example. The community of European states has enacted treaties that have allowed them to unite politically and economically.
The National Center for State Courts (NCSC) is an independent, non-profit organization focused on improving the administration of justice in the United States and around the world. Its efforts are directed by a 27-member board of directors and through the collaborative work with the Conference of Chief Justices, the Conference of State Court Administrators, and other associations of judicial leaders. NCSC was founded in 1971 at the urging of U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren E. Burger. It is based in Williamsburg, Virginia.
The State Bar of Michigan is the governing body for lawyers in the State of Michigan. Membership is mandatory for attorneys who practice law in Michigan. The organization's mission is to aid in promoting improvements in the administration of justice and advancements in jurisprudence, improving relations between the legal profession and the public, and promoting the interests of the legal profession in Michigan.
The judicial system of Bhutan is the purview of the Royal Court of Justice, the judicial branch of the government of Bhutan under the Constitution of 2008. The judicial system comprises the Judicial Commission, the courts, the police, the penal code, and regulations on jabmi (attorneys).
The law of Bhutan derives mainly from legislation and treaties. Prior to the enactment of the Constitution, laws were enacted by fiat of the King of Bhutan. The law of Bhutan originates in the semi-theocratic Tsa Yig legal code, and was heavily influenced through the twentieth century by English common law. As Bhutan democratizes, its government has examined many countries' legal systems and modeled its reforms after their laws.
The Alabama State Bar is the integrated (mandatory) bar association of the U.S. state of Alabama.
The ABA Rule of Law Initiative was established in 2007 by the American Bar Association to consolidate its five overseas rule of law programs, including the Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative, which was created in 1990 after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Today, the ABA Rule of Law Initiative implements legal reform programs in 50 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and Eurasia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East and North Africa.
The Kosovo Judicial Council (KJC) is the national council of the judiciary of Kosovo. It is the oversight body that aims to ensure the independence and impartiality of the judicial system, and the administration of justice in Kosovo.
Pretrial services programs are procedures in the United States to prepare cases for trial in court. In most jurisdictions pretrial services programs operate at the county level. Six US states operate and fund pretrial services programs at the state level. The US federal courts system operates pretrial services in all 94 federal districts.
The Judiciary of Kosovo is the collection of the central Kosovo institutions that exercises judicial authority in Kosovo. According to the 2008 Constitution of Kosovo, the judicial system is composed of the Supreme Court and subordinate courts, a Constitutional Court, and an independent prosecutorial institution. The courts are administered by the Kosovo Judicial Council.
National Association of Women Judges (NAWJ) is an American professional organization founded in 1979. Members are lawyers and women judges who are dedicated to preserving judicial independence to women, minorities and other historically disfavored groups while increasing the number and advancement of women judges, and providing judicial education. The NAWJ is not to be confused with the International Association of Women Judges, which is a separate organization that was born out of the NAWJ's ten-year anniversary conference.